Attachment for knitting-machines.



H. BIRNBAUM. ATTAOMENT POR KNITTING MACHINES.

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H. BIRNBAUM.

ATTACHMENT TOR KNITTING MAGHTNBS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5, 1910.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

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ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5. 1910` Patented 001;. 31,1911.

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HENRY BIRNBAUM, OF NEW YORK, N..Y.

.ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specieaton of Letters Patent.

Patented oet. 31, 1911.

Application led July 5, 1910. Serial No. 570,525.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BIRNBAUM, subject of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, residing at New York, in the county of New York andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAttachments for Knitting Machines, of which the following is aspecilication.

My invention relates to .knitting machines or similar mechanisms, andparticularly to an attachment therefor mounted upon the carriage of theknitting machine and constituting a cover or casino for the banks of theneedles, and carrying 2brushes contacting with the upper faces of theneedle plates.

The object of my invention is twofold.

One object is to entirely cover in and protect the needle plates and theupper portionsl of the needles from dustand dirt, and to preventflutf orlint from being blown otf of the needle bed and disseminated in the air,

A and also to prevent fluff or lint from other machines from falling onto the needle beds in use; and the other object is to brush this tlutfor lint off of the needle plates at each reciprocation of the carriageso that the iiuff shall not accumulate in the spaces between" the needleplates and obstruct the operation of the needles and voverlie andobscure the needles so that broken or defective needles can not beobserved, a very common occurrence in the operation of knittingmachines, and one which causes defective goods to be turned out.

A relatively minor object is to provide a cover or casing which isprovided with transparent panels whereby the operation of the machinemay be observed, and which is composed of sections capable of beingopened to permit an adjustment or repair of any part, or the propermanipulation of the threads or yarn, and which is normally held closedby a latching device.

The invention comprehends in its general features a two-part, sectionalcover formed of pairs of shields mounted upon and movablev with theusual carriage of such.'y length as to cover in or extendover the needlebanks in any position of the carriage, each half section of the coverbeing supported on springs which tend to open the cover secvdraefyingsshown my invention applied to a straight-knitting machine such as isused in P qknitting cardigan or jersey cloths.

Insaid drawings z-Figure 1 is a top plan vv'view of so much of astraight-knitting machine as is necessary to illustrate my inven- 'tionand showing my invention as applied thereto, the knitting machine beingshown conventionally.,.v Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts showninFig. l. Fig. 3 is anenlarged detail s eotion about full size on the line3-3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a transverse detail section on the same scaleas Fig. 3 and taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. l. Fig.

-5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the cover and thelatching device. Fig. 6 .is a side elevation partly in section of theparts shown in Fig. 5.

Referring now particularly to Figs. l and 2, 2 designates the bed of astraightknitting machine of any usual type having the usual oppositely Ydisposed, upwardly' inclined needles, and the oppositely disposed, up-

wardly and inwardly inclined banks o1 needle plates 4 between which theneedles operate, the row of needle plates on one side of the machine andthe needlestherebetween being spaced from the row of needles and needleplates on the other side of the machine to permit the passage of theknitted fabric between the banks of needles and needle plates. 5designates the oppositely disposed, longitudinally extended sidebars ofthe usual reciprocating carriage, the bars being connected at their endsby integral portions which are curved downward below the plane of thecarriage. The thread guide 'T is mounted on the carriage midway be- Y.of the latch bar 30 that the upper end ofthe latch bar will be movedaway from the cover section and against the force of the spring 33. Assoon as the detents 37 havereleased 4their engagement with the coversections,

the springs 24 will act to throw the cover sections open. It will beobvious that one of the cover sections may be held by hand at the sametime pressing upon the latch bar 30 as above described, and thus thatonly the other cover section may be released. lVhile I have found thatthis form of latching device is very convenient in operation, and verysimple in construction, Ido not wish to limit myself to this as it isobvious that other latching devices might be provided acting practicallyin the same manner without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

A considerable'source of trouble in knitting machines is due to the factthat lint and fluit become deposited upon the upper edges or faces ofthe needle plates and fills the spaces between these plates so as tohide the needles between the plates and prevent the operator observingwhether these needles are broken or unbroken. As a consequence,oftentimes the operator does not notice that any particular needle isdefective, and it is only after many rows of stitching have been madethat the defect will benoted by the defect in the fabric turned out. Inorder to avoid this, I have provided oppositely disposed pairs ofbrushes, one brush for each of the cover sections, so mounted upon thecover sections as to reciprocate with the cover sections and-with thecarriage, the

bristles of these brushes extending down into contact with the upperfaces of the needle platesv and cleaning the same ofufl' and lint ateach reciprocation of the carriage. This construction is shownparticularly clearly in Fig. 3. The bristles 40 ofeach brush aresupported in bristle clamps 41 consisting of two opposed plates 41 and42` the plate 41 forming part of a supporting bracket 43, the plate 42beingclamped against the plate41 byg means of bolts and nuts 44. Thebracket 43 extends outward,

then upward to a point above the side bar 16 of, the cover sectionframe, and then eX- tends toward the free edge of the adjacent coversection, as at 45. .Any suitable means may be used for attaching thebrackets 45 to the frame bar 16, and the brackets may be attached.permanently to vthe frame bars if desired.. n,Preferabl however, inorder to provide for cases 1n which relatively narrow.

goods are being woven, and where the reciprocation of the frame istherefore less than the full amount and so requires an adjustment of thebrushes, I mount the brackets 43 adjustably upon the bars 16.

be eective in practice is to form the upper face of the frame bar 16with a longitudinally extending groove 46 having undercutv side edges. Abolt 47 passes through the upwardly extending terminal end 45 of thebracket 43, and this bolt is provided with a head 48 at its end havingbeveled side edges adapted to engage beneath, the undercut edges of thegroovev 46. This head is thereby adapted to slide longitudinally alongthe groove and to beheld in any adjusted position by a wing nut 49engaging with the bolt 47.

It is preferable that tlie brushes 40 shally be resiliently forced downinto contact with v the needle plates 4, andfto this end I make thebracket 43 slightly yielding and interpose between the u-pper face ofeach bracket and the adjacent portions of the frame, the coil spring 50,this'spring.- being held in place by any suitable meansas by theupwardly projecting stud 51. It will be seen from Figs. 1 and 2 that thegroove 46 is of such'length that the brushes maybe disposed at any'point desired upon the carriage. Preferably, and under normal circum-One manner of doing this which I have found toA stances wherel goodsof-full width are being f knitted, the brushes are mounted at the innerends of the cover sections. There will thus be a pair of brushes locatedon each side of the yarn-guiding devices. By this means I secure abrushing action over the whole extent of the banks of needle .pla-tes,which would not be the case if only onepair of brushes were used. Thusupon a movement of the carriage in one direction, one pair of brusheswill move beyond the needle plates when the carriage has reached thefull length of its travel, while the other pair of brushes will be incontact with the needle plates, while upon a movement'of'the car- 1.10

riage in the other direction, the lastnamed' pair of brushes will moveover the whole face of the carriage and be carried beyond the same, andthelast pair will only be carried along a portionA of the length of theneedle bed. Upon each reciprocation of the carriage, therefore, thebrushes will actA to carry the Huff and lint from one end of thecarriage to the other, brushing it off of the" upper faces of the.needle pla-tes and clearing the spaces therebetween and carrying thefluif and lint to the closed end of the` lil) sections to permit the llmele;

dotted lines in ig., that the brushes will also be raised clear oit' theneedle plates. rlhe brushes will thus not obstruct. any manipulation otthe needles 'which be necessary. y

lt will beseen that my invention is very simple and yet etl'ective inoperation, and that it may be separately manufactured and attached toany standard form of knitting machine, while it may be easily modifiedto suit any special type ot' knitting machine. llt has heen foundparticularly good in practice in that. it tends to prevent any foulingof the yarn, ,lie-eps the ilutl' and lint "from being carried into theair of the room and thus into the lungs ot" the operators, and keeps theneedle plates of the machines in such condi ion that the operator may atall times observe the action of the needles and note that the machine isproperly working.

lill/hat l claim is:

l. The combination .with a knitting machine having` a banlcot needlesand needle plates, and a movable carriage, ot a. cover formed in twolaterally disposed sections, cach section being hingedl f mounted on theside of the carriage, and .said sections cxi'cnding over the needleplates and toward each other, springs acting to raise the cover needlesto he manipulated, and means for latching the cover sections in a closedposition..

The combination with a knitting machine having a bank of needles andneed-le plates. and a movable can-ringe including opposite-lv disposedside members, ot a. cover toi-med of two sections, cach section beingindependently hinged to the side members ot' the carriage, said coversections extending" over the. needle plates and toward each other, andeach section being provided with a transparent panel whereby the needlesmay he observed, and means 'for bitching the cover sections in a closedposition.

fl. 'lhc combination with a knittingr nia chine having a bank of needlesand needle plates, and a movable carriage, said carriage beingapproximately ot a length about twice the length ot the bank of needlesand being provided midway7 its length with thread guiding' devices, ot acover composed of two pairs et cover sections, the pairs of sectionsbeing1 mounted upon opposite portions ot the carriage on cach side ofthe thread guiding devices, the sections ot each pair bfcinpl hinged tothe adjacent portions ont' thegcai.' riagre and extending upward andover the needle plates, the said cover sections being provided each witha transparent panel.

4. lhe combination with a chine having a banl-z of needles and needleplates, and a movable carriage including longitudinally extending sidebars, said carknitting 'maiper/,eee

i-iage having a length approximately equal to tzvice the length ot' thebank of needles, and thread guiding devices mounted at the middle ol thecarriage, of a pair of cover sections disposed on each side of thethread guiding devices, each pair consisting' of oppositely disposedcover sections hinged to the side bars of the carriage and extendingupward and inward toward. each other, each cover section being providedwith a transparent panel, independent. springs acting to torce each ofsaid cover sections open, and l bitching` devices acting` to hold thecover sections closed. i rllhe combination of a knitting` machine having a bank ot' needlcs and needle plates, Va movable carriage andthread-guiding devices mounted upon the movable carriage midway the endsthereof, of'oppositely dis pcsed pairs ot cover sections located on eachside of the thread-,guidingaT devices, the sections ot each pair beinghinged to the side ba rs of the carriage and extending upward and towardeach other, transparent panels located in the cover sections, springsacting to 'torce the sections of each pair of cover sections open, andlatching devices located at opposite ends of the Aarriage, eachconsisting ot' a bitching; bar havingdctents engaging with the ends ofthe adjacent. cover sections. y i

tl. The combination with a knitting machine having a row ot'vneedles andneedle plates and a movable carriage mounted in connection therewith,oie a cover section hingedly mounted upon the said carriage andextending over the row of needles and needle plates, and a brush mountedupon `the cover section and depending into contact with the upper taceof the needle plates, said brush being iiiovable with the cover sectionaway from the needle plates when the cover' section is opened.

i'. The combination lith a knitting machine having oppositely disposedrows of needles and needle plates, and a movable carriage mounted inconnection therewith, of oppositely disposed cover sections iingcdlvmounted upon the said carriage and extending over the rows of needles,and brushes mounted upon the cover sections and depending into contactwith the upper l't'aces ot' the needle plates, said brushes be linglongitudinally adjustable.

8. The combination with a. knitting niachiiie having` oppositelydisposed rows of needles and needle plates, and a movable carriagemounted in confnection therewith, and'having long jitudinally extendingsido supported on the sidev hars and hiilgedly mounted so as to beraised out ol onturned down into contact with the needle plates,

bars, oi" oppositcly disposed pairs ol brushes- Seid brushes havingbristles extending l dies, and brushes mounted upon said cover downwardinto Contact with Jdie upper faces sections and depending into olontaetwith of the needle plates.- ,ille upper 'faces of the needle plaies.

e. The combination with a knitting ma- In testimony whereof, I ex mySignature 5 chine having oppositiely disposed rows' of H1 Pfff-S6110@ 0fWO WtneSSeS- needles and needle plates and a movalole HENRY BIRNBAUM.[Lr S] carriage opeiatlvely mounted 1n connection therewith, ofoppositely disposed cover sec- Witnesses:

\ tionsliingly mounted upon said carriage HENRY S. SCHIMML, Y10 andadapted to extend over the rows of nee i EMIL G. HAAS.

